Category: folk

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Since their formation over four years ago, the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Canadian roots trio Red Moon Road, comprised of Sheena Rattai (lead vocals, percussion, keys), Daniel Jordan (vocals, guitar, bass drum) and Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner (vocals, mandolin, banjo, guitar, lap steel, keys and delay pedals) have developed a reputation across their native Canada and elsewhere for a remarkably full sound that draws from a variety of influences including Canadiana, Manitoban country, folk music, gospel, soul, jazz, pop and Americana while pairing them with Rattai’s soulful, superstar-in-the-marking vocals, and for a live show that features each of the three multi-instrumentalists switching rapidly switching instruments throughout — with Péloquin-Hopfner known for playing banjo and organ simultaneously! (That’s something I’d love to see with my own eyes!)

L-R: Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner, Sheena Rattai and Daniel Jordan
L-R: Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner, Sheena Rattai and Daniel Jordan

As the story goes, while the Canadian roots trio was in tour in 2012, lead vocalist Sheena Rattai, broke her leg through a Frisbee-catch-gone-horribly-wrong accident that unfortunately lead to the trio being forced to cancel their tour. And as a result, Rattai spent several months recovering and writing, new material — most of which wound up comprising their latest album, Sorrows and Glories, which sees its Stateside release today. Co-produced by David Travers-Smith, a multiple Juno Award-winning, who has worked with The Wailin’ Jennys and Ruth Moody and renowned producer Murray Pulver, who has worked with Doc Walker and Steve Bell, the material on Sorrows and Glories is unsurprisingly, informed by the ups and downs of the healing experience and Canadian folklore — including a song that muses on Winnipeg’s Roslyn Square Apartment Complex, another that retells the tragic story of an 18th Century French aeronaut, as well as straightforward spirituals, while being reportedly being rooted in the sort of storytelling familiar to old school folk and country.

“I’ll Bend But I Won’t Break,” which I have the unique honor of premiering here, pairs Sheena Rattai’s soulful powerhouse vocals with upbeat and jaunty series of banjo chords, guitar played much like a bass guitar at parts, soaring organ chords and gorgeous three part harmonies at the song’s anthemic and powerfully encouraging hook in a song about resilience that’s deeply influenced by personal experience and hard-fought wisdom. As Red Moon Road’s Sheena Rattai explained to me by email, “I used to own this tiny little house in Winnipeg that I lived in all by myself. After a few years of trying to balance the upkeep of it with our rigorous touring schedule I realized that it just wasn’t working. I decided to make my best efforts toward grownup-hood and secure a tenant for the house. I got a tenant named Tom. Turns out, Tom was a terrible tenant! While this sounds like a Dr. Seuss book, it actually ended up being a horrible experience that resulted in my having to sell the house. Needless to say, I didn’t much care for Tom at the time so I wrote an angry song that lyrically has nothing to do with Tom, but emotionally, has everything to do with him. It’s some self-encouragement that people like this that bring chaos into our lives won’t break us. I love the symbolism in how a tree survives a storm; grounding yourself and digging your roots deep.”

While I have to admit that I hope that Rattai doesn’t have any more terrible Toms in her life, the song is both a reminder of the age-old adage of that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that all things do pass in time. But it’s also an example of gifted and so rare songwriting — an earnest song that’s personable, richly visual and with an incredibly memorable hook that dozens of songwriters would kill for in any genre. And honestly, based on this trio’s sound, I’m amazed that they’re not bigger than what they are right now; but I think that will be rectified very soon.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Born and reared in the Springfield, IL area and currently splitting her time between San Francisco, CA and Big Sur, CA singer/songwriter. guitarist and producer Jenny Gillespie can trace her musical career to her childhood — during drives to and from town, a young Gillespie spent quite a bit of time harmonizing in the backseat with her sister, who is a gifted pianist. When Gillespie was 13, she picked up her mother’s Martin guitar and began putting the poems she had started writing to music. A local record clerk changed the young singer/songwriter’s life by giving her albums from three of the 90s’ most renowned singer/songwriters — Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan and Shawn Colvin.

After stints living in Virginia, Paris and Texas, Gillespie relocated to Chicago, where she self-produced and then released the folk and alt-country influenced sophomore effort Light Year to a fair amount of critical praise across the blogosphere. As a result of Light Year‘s exposure, Gillespie met Darwin Smith, an Austin, TX-based multi-instrumentalist, with whom she wrote her third full-length effort, Kindred, a sparse, experimental, electronica-based effort recorded in an old house in Wilmette, IL with contributions from Steve Moore, who has worked with Tift Merritt and Laura Veirs and Dony Wynn, who has worked with Robert Plant.

Inspired by a volunteer trip to Kenya that led her to an African fingerpicking class at the Old Town School of Folk Music and studying for an MFA in Poetry at North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College, Gillespie found her sound and songwriting approach expanding and becoming more refined. And by the fall of 2011, she traveled to NYC to record the EP Belita with Shazard Ismaily, a multi-instrumentalist who has worked with Lou Reed, Bonnie Prince Billy, and St. Vincent. Interestingly, that effort possesses elements of pop, folk music, African and Asian rhythms and tones.

Featuring contributions from Emmett Kelly (Bonnie Prince Billy) on guitar and Joe Adamik (Califone, Iron and Wine) on drums, her last full-length effort Chamma was released to critical praise, including landing on Billboard Magazine‘s Top 25 Albums of 2014 List. Naturally, that has seen Gillespie’s profile grow nationally — and continuing on that buzz, the singer/songwriter is set to release Chamma‘s follow-up, Cure for Dreaming early next year through Narooma Records. Recorded over the past couple of months and featuring contributions from Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann), drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant and Allison Krauss’ Raising Sand), guitarist Chris Bruce (Meshell Ndgeocello), guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie), and pedal steel player Greg Leisz (Lucinda Williams, Bon Iver), the album  reportedly possesses elements of folk, progressive jazz, and 60s and 70s AM pop.

“No Stone” Cure for Dreaming‘s first single pairs Gillespie’s husky and unhurried vocals with a spacious yet warm and subtly jazz-like arrangement of keys, guitar, bass, gently buzzing electronics and hushed drumming in a song that feels as intimate as a lover whispering sweet nothings in your ear. And at its core, is conversational lyricism that possesses a novelist’s attention to detail, as you can picture the woman who hides her face by the ocean, the cherry blossom trees in bloom, someone peering through a keyhole to see a depressed woman struggling to just starting her day — and a novelist’s attention to psychological detail. The song’s narrator feels like a fully-fleshed out person, desperately struggling to push on. Interestingly, each time I’ve played the song I’ve been reminded of how Gillespie sounds so much like Joni Mitchell — it’s incredibly uncanny.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Alela Diane and Ryan Francesconi’s Gorgeous Duet “The Sun Today”

Currently based in Portland, OR and originally from Nevada City, CA, Alela Diane is critically acclaimed singer/songwriter who has previously released four albums — 2007’s The Pirate’s Gospel, 2009’s To Be Still, 2011’s Wild Divine and […]